This is Bert from Virginia USA. I picked up a 2 band percussion musket in Las Vegas of all places. So far I can make out the word Tower with 1869 below it on the lock. I can make out the number 25 along with some sort of mark on the top side of the barrel. The barrel is 33 inches long. The barrel has a bayonet lug on the right side. The rear sight is graduated with marks reading 5, 6, 7, 8. 9 and 10. The stock is marked Kynock and Co. with the word Birmingham underneath. There is no ramrod. I'm not sure what this is, can anyone tell me what to look for. I can post photos if needed if someone tells me how to do so.

Hi Bert, you have a commercially made version of a .577" Enfield rifle. There were specific patterns made for, & used by, the British Govt with a 33 inch barrel but commercial guns did not need to conform to any particular pattern. Birmingham was a major center for gunmakers in England, the 25 mark represents 25 bore. Such arms were imported & used on both sides in the American Civil War but if the gun was made circa 1869 it would be a later import, probably much, much later as there was a glut of surplus arms such as this for many decades after the conflict. In British military use the Enfield rifle was superseded by the Snider breech loader by the late 1860s, so 1869 is considered to be a fairly a late date. Two band rifles were made in 3 groove & 5 groove - I would expect yours to be 5 groove? Adrian.

This Enfield Short Rifle will have been put together from surplus parts some time after 1885 when Kynoch took over the old Tranter factory at 31 Aston Road to fill contracts for military arms for the French and for the South African Boer Republics. Also it is quite probable that the rifle was just purchased complete from old stock for resale by them and had the stock stamp added at that date. 25 Bore on the proof marks represents .577 calibre as proof sizes were shown as being the diameter of pure lead spherical balls of that many to the pound. In US speak the word means 'Gauge' as in 12 Gauge for shotguns.

I took the barrel off the stock today and found the name "E Cooper" stamped into the wood of the stock directly under the rearmost section of the barrel. On the bottom of the barrel itself I have found the numbers " (clover symbol?) 32" then "D5" then "C&C."

The barrel had one round jammed about 4 inches in. A little penetrating oil brought it out in pieces. A second round is jammed about 29 inches down. Has anyone a suggestion how to eventually remove this one?

Cooper will be the subcontractor who did the stocking. C & C might be C & G for Cooper & Goodman who functioned from 1857 to 1886 and did a lot of military contract work in addition to commercial work.

You might shift the jam using compressed air through the nipple seat. You will need the sort of pressure that you get from a diver's air tank, around 2,000 to 2,500 psi. We had a lot of success with this system although very rarely it was not enough. The CO2 gadgets are OK for field work but probably would not touch a long established jam. Failing that, mount a drill bit in a centralising bush to keep it away from the bore sides and drill a deep hole into into which you can screw a coarse threaded extractor and, after some penetrating oil, a good heave-ho. Be careful as there may be powder under that jam, I have known it !